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Connecting
The most important action of asocial network is the act of two people connecting. MySpace considers it friending regardless of the recipient, whereas Facebook reserves friending for individual people and calls it fanning when you connect with a brand. LinkedIn keeps it simple and calls everything connecting see Figure Social networks were conceived to emphasize strong connections between people—the people you actually know in real life rather than your online buddies. Some users follow this maxim to the letter and will accept connection requests only from people they know well. Other users will connect with just about anyone. In either case, if you’re sending a connection request to someone, and it isn’t obvious how you know her, you should include a brief introductory sentence or two along with your request explaining why you should be friends.
Social networks impose limits on how many people you can connect to in a given amount of time. These restrictions are in place to thwart spammers trying to build giant networks if you’re running into warnings, you’re probably doing something wrong and need to slowdown. It’s a building process, and there’s no reason to go out and get a million friends in one day.
Figure 4-3. This is an example of connecting with another user on LinkedIn.

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Connecting
The most important action of asocial network is the act of two people connecting. MySpace considers it friending regardless of the recipient, whereas Facebook reserves friending for individual people and calls it fanning when you connect with a brand. LinkedIn keeps it simple and calls everything connecting see Figure Social networks were conceived to emphasize strong connections between people—the people you actually know in real life rather than your online buddies. Some users follow this maxim to the letter and will accept connection requests only from people they know well. Other users will connect with just about anyone. In either case, if you’re sending a connection request to someone, and it isn’t obvious how you know her, you should include a brief introductory sentence or two along with your request explaining why you should be friends.
Social networks impose limits on how many people you can connect to in a given amount of time. These restrictions are in place to thwart spammers trying to build giant networks if you’re running into warnings, you’re probably doing something wrong and need to slowdown. It’s a building process, and there’s no reason to go out and get a million friends in one day.
I once worked on apolitical campaign on Facebook, where we setup a profile for the candidate and began
searching for people who were sympathetic to the candidate’s causes to friend. After a burst of connecting to
lots of potential supporters, the site would warn us that we were sending too many requests, and eventually
the account was suspended. Although our account was reinstated after we sent a few emails to tech support,
the exact limit was never revealed—all Facebook ever said was too many.”
Figure 4-3. This is an example of connecting with another user on LinkedIn.

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Private Messaging
Social networks all contain some form of private messaging akin to email (see Figure 4-4). These are typically sent from one user to another, but they can also be sent by a group to all of the group’s friends. The networks will generally send the recipient an email notification of a received message, so don’t bombard people’s inboxes with constant message spam. If you find yourself wondering how to automatically send these messages, you’re doing something wrong.
Public Messaging
Public messages are called comments in MySpace and wall messages in Facebook. Commenting sections can be found on profiles, photos, groups, events, and business pages. When posting a public message, remember that everyone can read it. Don’t share anything you wouldn’t send to your boss and your mother. Congratulations, happy birthday, good luck, and long-time-no-see messages are all popular public messaging topics.
Marketers have been guilty of spamming the public message sections of related groups and pages—for example, while working for that politician I mentioned earlier, we were warned about too many wall posts. But don’t be afraid to congratulate people on recent accomplishments.
Figure 4-4. On the left is an example of a Facebook inbox; on the right, a MySpace inbox.

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Private Messaging
Social networks all contain some form of private messaging akin to email (see Figure 4-4). These are typically sent from one user to another, but they can also be sent by a group to all of the group’s friends. The networks will generally send the recipient an email notification of a received message, so don’t bombard people’s inboxes with constant message spam. If you find yourself wondering how to automatically send these messages, you’re doing something wrong.
I’ve heard of someone being warned by Facebook for sending too many messages in a period of time. This
person was actually conversing with his many friends.
Public Messaging
Public messages are called comments in MySpace and wall messages in Facebook. Commenting sections can be found on profiles, photos, groups, events, and business pages. When posting a public message, remember that everyone can read it. Don’t share anything you wouldn’t send to your boss and your mother. Congratulations, happy birthday, good luck, and long-time-no-see messages are all popular public messaging topics.
Marketers have been guilty of spamming the public message sections of related groups and pages—for example, while working for that politician I mentioned earlier, we were warned about too many wall posts. But don’t be afraid to congratulate people on recent accomplishments.
Figure 4-4. On the left is an example of a Facebook inbox; on the right, a MySpace inbox.

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Groups
Most social networks contain the concept of a group—a collection of people joined by some common interest (seethe lefthand side of Figure 4-5 for an example. Group members can share news and discussions, and the group’s administrators can send private messages to everyone.
Nonmarketers create groups fora plethora of reasons, including the I-lost-my-cell-so-send-me-your- numbers group and the save-such-and-such-TV-show group. Starting and joining a group requires only a small amount of commitment in time and resources, and little to no member involvement as a result, many people belong to tons of seemingly pointless groups. LinkedIn is the exception to this rule, as it displays the logos of the groups you’re a member of on your profile, meaning that many users are more selective in deciding which groups to join.
Photos
One of the most popular features of social networking sites is the ability to share photos. In fact,
Facebook’s photo-sharing feature is more popular than all of the other photo-sharing sites on the Web combined. You can upload pictures of yourself and your friends, and tag people in the images with their names. Photos can also have their own comment sections, allowing you and your friends to talk about them.
Campaigns can be designed to encourage users to take photos that include your product and to post them to Facebook and MySpace (seethe righthand side of Figure 4-5 for an example of MySpace photos).
Figure 4-5. Here are examples of a Facebook group (left) and MySpace photos (right).
www.allitebooks.com

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Groups
Most social networks contain the concept of a group—a collection of people joined by some common interest (seethe lefthand side of Figure 4-5 for an example. Group members can share news and discussions, and the group’s administrators can send private messages to everyone.
Nonmarketers create groups fora plethora of reasons, including the I-lost-my-cell-so-send-me-your- numbers group and the save-such-and-such-TV-show group. Starting and joining a group requires only a small amount of commitment in time and resources, and little to no member involvement as a result, many people belong to tons of seemingly pointless groups. LinkedIn is the exception to this rule, as it displays the logos of the groups you’re a member of on your profile, meaning that many users are more selective in deciding which groups to join.
Photos
One of the most popular features of social networking sites is the ability to share photos. In fact,
Facebook’s photo-sharing feature is more popular than all of the other photo-sharing sites on the Web combined. You can upload pictures of yourself and your friends, and tag people in the images with their names. Photos can also have their own comment sections, allowing you and your friends to talk about them.
Campaigns can be designed to encourage users to take photos that include your product and to post them to Facebook and MySpace (seethe righthand side of Figure 4-5 for an example of MySpace photos).
Figure 4-5. Here are examples of a Facebook group (left) and MySpace photos (right).

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Events
Most social networks will allow you to create an event and invite your friends to attend it. These events most commonly occur in the real world, but some are online-only events. RSVP functionality is included, as are commenting and photo uploads.
Anytime you’re hosting a local event, setup asocial networking event page. Use it to invite all your business s fans to come and meet people from your company.
Applications
Social networks have exposed their functionality through application programming interfaces (APIs) to developers, allowing them to create applications that plug into their site. Some applications function as add-ons to a profile or page enhancing that functionality, whereas others work more like standalone applications inside the network that leverage the functionality contained in the site.
Some of the most popular applications extend existing social networking functionality by enhancing public messaging systems, adding calendars, or allowing you to indicate which connections you’re related to. Other popular apps facilitate philanthropy (as shown in Figure 4-6), or allow you to play games such as Scrabble and poker with your friends.
Applications require technical resources and programming capabilities, but they can be worthwhile additions to asocial media marketing campaign. The best apps will allow people to communicate and interact with their friends rather than just act as advertisements fora product.
Figure 4-6. One of the most popular applications on Facebook is the Causes application.

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Events
Most social networks will allow you to create an event and invite your friends to attend it. These events most commonly occur in the real world, but some are online-only events. RSVP functionality is included, as are commenting and photo uploads.
Anytime you’re hosting a local event, setup asocial networking event page. Use it to invite all your business s fans to come and meet people from your company.
Applications
Social networks have exposed their functionality through application programming interfaces (APIs) to developers, allowing them to create applications that plug into their site. Some applications function as add-ons to a profile or page enhancing that functionality, whereas others work more like standalone applications inside the network that leverage the functionality contained in the site.
Some of the most popular applications extend existing social networking functionality by enhancing public messaging systems, adding calendars, or allowing you to indicate which connections you’re related to. Other popular apps facilitate philanthropy (as shown in Figure 4-6), or allow you to play games such as Scrabble and poker with your friends.
Applications require technical resources and programming capabilities, but they can be worthwhile additions to asocial media marketing campaign. The best apps will allow people to communicate and interact with their friends rather than just act as advertisements fora product.
Figure 4-6. One of the most popular applications on Facebook is the Causes application.

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Status Updates
Several social networking sites have begun to allow their users to post messages answering a simple question What are you doing The social networking equivalent of instant message (IM) away messages, status updates were originally just short text messages, but Facebook has begun to allow users to post images, links, and videos in their status updates as well. Status messages are often integrated with public messaging systems, allowing your friends to comment on your updates. Many people log into social networks regularly just to read the status updates of their friends and stay up-to-date on their whereabouts and activities.
Privacy
Privacy is a sticky issue on social networks. Older users are generally more concerned about and aware of privacy. Younger users revel in sharing minute details of their lives with their entire social networks, and often need to be reminded that some content maybe embarrassing or problematic later in life. If you’re in marketing, you’ll probably want to have open settings to connect with as many people as possible. Keep in mind the age of your audience when planning asocial media marketing campaign, and be sure not to ask for information that is more personal than your audience would feel comfortable providing. Also, carefully review the terms of service (ToS) of each social network before launching a campaign.

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Facebook
Currently, Facebook is the dominant social networking site, and it has the most features useful to the social media marketer. It began in universities, so Facebook boasts a commanding percentage of college students as members. Recently, however, its fastest growing segment has been users older than 35, and recent data suggests that the 35–54 age group has become bigger than the 18–24 age group. For these older users, Facebook presents a middle ground between the stuffiness of LinkedIn and the adolescent playground of MySpace, and is a fun but easily navigable place where they can reconnect with old friends.
Pages
Facebook allows businesses to create public profiles that have many of the same features as a user’s profile. Users can connect with a page and become fans. Pages can have public messaging walls, events, photos, and custom applications. Nearly every company engaged in social media marketing should have a Facebook page it can often serve as a central place for the integration of other parts of a campaign.
One of the most popular pages on Facebook is the Coca-Cola page, yet it wasn’t even created by the company itself. A Coke fan in Los Angeles made the page featuring little more than a giant can of soda, and in a few weeks it had 250,000 fans. At the time of this writing, it has more than 3.5 million fans. Facebook noticed the size of the group and asked Coca-Cola corporate to take it over, but the soda company’s marketing team demonstrated its social media savvy and didn’t charge in and strong-arm the original creator out of the picture. Instead, it assigned a team of people to help him maintain the page. If you go to that page today and post a comment such as Pepsi is better than Coke Coca-Cola corporate lets it stay. The best social media marketing is always going to be done by your fans, not by you, so get out of their way.
When you’re setting up a page for your business, you can use a few applications to make the page more interesting to visitors and make them more likely to return.

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Blog RSS Feed Reader (http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=5315590686)
Your company should have a blog to keep customers and clients updated regarding product releases and other news. Make sure it has an RSS feed. Use this application to pull posts from your blog onto your Facebook page.
The Twitter App (http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2231777543)
Social media marketing often means your company has a Twitter account. Use the Twitter app to send your tweets to your Facebook page.
Static FBML (http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?sid=59c8a2bba844922b5153efc9b9eba
237&id=4949752878&ref=s)
If you want to include special images or HTML on your page, you’ll need to use the Static FBML app to accomplish that.
After you’ve integrated your existing content onto your Facebook page, it is important for you to include content that users can’t get anywhere else. Avoid the urge to turn your page into a watered-down version of your website. Offer exclusive deals and content that are for Facebook fans only, or give your fans access to products before they are released elsewhere. This creates a sense of excitement for your fans.
Privacy Settings
Facebook features fine-grained settings that allow you to control the types of profile content that your friends will be able to see. The best way to use these settings is to divide your friends into lists, such as family members, coworkers, online buddies, and soon. In the Privacy section, you can then specify which groups can see which features (see Figure 4-7).
Figure 4-7. Facebook offers granular privacy settings.

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Blog RSS Feed Reader (http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=5315590686)
Your company should have a blog to keep customers and clients updated regarding product releases and other news. Make sure it has an RSS feed. Use this application to pull posts from your blog onto your Facebook page.
The Twitter App (http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2231777543)
Social media marketing often means your company has a Twitter account. Use the Twitter app to send your tweets to your Facebook page.
Static FBML (http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?sid=59c8a2bba844922b5153efc9b9eba
237&id=4949752878&ref=s)
If you want to include special images or HTML on your page, you’ll need to use the Static FBML app to accomplish that.
After you’ve integrated your existing content onto your Facebook page, it is important for you to include content that users can’t get anywhere else. Avoid the urge to turn your page into a watered-down version of your website. Offer exclusive deals and content that are for Facebook fans only, or give your fans access to products before they are released elsewhere. This creates a sense of excitement for your fans.
Privacy Settings
Facebook features fine-grained settings that allow you to control the types of profile content that your friends will be able to see. The best way to use these settings is to divide your friends into lists, such as family members, coworkers, online buddies, and soon. In the Privacy section, you can then specify which groups can see which features (see Figure 4-7).
Figure 4-7. Facebook offers granular privacy settings.

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LinkedIn
The social networking site for business professionals, LinkedIn is the most restrictive social network in terms of customization and integration. It does not include any photo-sharing features, and was the last major social networking site to allow users to post photos of themselves to their profiles. The core function of LinkedIn is professional networking, so it is used heavily by job seekers and recruiters. LinkedIn restricts contact between members so that only individuals who are directly contacted can message each other. The LinkedIn features most useful to marketers are Groups and Answers.
LinkedIn is the only one of the three major social networking sites that charges a fee for some types of access. The paid-for features are focused on recruiters and allow them to post jobs and contact people they are not directly connected to.
Introductions
Because of the restrictions placed on messaging between users, LinkedIn has a feature called
Introductions, where a user finds a path of shared connections between herself and someone she would like to contact. Each step along the way, she receives a request message, and can choose to not forward it or to continue the chain with a personalized message to one of her contacts (see Figure Introductions can be useful to the marketer who wants to find a personalized way to connect with a blogger or journalist through shared connections.
Figure 4-8. With the LinkedIn Introduction feature, a user can find a path of shared connections
between herself and someone she wants to contact.

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LinkedIn
The social networking site for business professionals, LinkedIn is the most restrictive social network in terms of customization and integration. It does not include any photo-sharing features, and was the last major social networking site to allow users to post photos of themselves to their profiles. The core function of LinkedIn is professional networking, so it is used heavily by job seekers and recruiters. LinkedIn restricts contact between members so that only individuals who are directly contacted can message each other. The LinkedIn features most useful to marketers are Groups and Answers.
LinkedIn is the only one of the three major social networking sites that charges a fee for some types of access. The paid-for features are focused on recruiters and allow them to post jobs and contact people they are not directly connected to.

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